


Hushed Laughs

by horologiiums



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-03 18:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20457815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/horologiiums/pseuds/horologiiums
Summary: Byleth didn't laugh if she had no reason to.





	Hushed Laughs

It wasn’t long after the final enemy soldier had fallen that Byleth let the victory sink in. She really had thought that the joint army formed from the remnants of the old Empire and those who slither in the dark would successfully take control of Derdriu. The newly United Kingdom of Fódlan had been losing a considerable amount of troops and the odds were quickly turning against them.

The last thing Byleth had expected to see was a familiar white wyvern flying toward the capital, a massive supporting army trailing close behind.

The gust of wind produced by the wyvern’s wings when it carefully landed was cool on Byleth’s face, sweat having begun to dapple her cheeks and forehead from all of the fighting she had done. Atop the wyvern’s back, Claude pat it’s neck, seemingly praising it, before straightening himself and smiling at Byleth. He made no move to dismount, Byleth figuring that it was her cue to approach him. She took a step-

“Your Majesty!”

Seteth’s voice rang out from behind her. Byleth almost didn’t react, the title still foreign on her ears.

_ Oh. Right. _

It had been a few months since Byleth’s coronation ceremony, naming her Queen of the United Kingdom of Fódlan but she still hadn’t grown used to all of the details that accompanied it. Strangely, the biggest detail that caused her the most amount of distress was being referred to as “Your Majesty” rather than her name or the otherwise common “Professor”. Even stranger that she had known Seteth for many years, even considered him a friend, yet he still insisted on referring to her by her newly given title. A stickler for the rules, she supposed.

She turned toward Seteth, discerning exactly where he stood from the direction and distance his voice had come from. She wouldn’t have described him as looking distressed when he saw Claude perched on his wyvern on the opposite side of Byleth but he didn’t look particularly pleased either. She knew what he wanted from his expression alone: “Announce victory to your soldiers!”

Byleth didn’t disagree that it was the right thing to do; she recalled her days fighting alongside the Alliance during the war, her and Claude always being the first to raise their weapons and declare victory after each battle. But now, she hesitated. And the reason for her hesitation was simple, really.

_ “There’s no way I’m gonna let you go.” _

Byleth hadn’t forgotten the words Claude left with her at the Goddess Tower all those months ago. Had it really only been months since he had departed? Their time apart from each other felt much longer, but the sight of Claude leaving, he and his wyvern growing smaller in the distance before completely disappearing into the horizon remained vivid in her mind. She always knew that he would return to her, he’d promised as much, but being there with her, just meters away… Byleth wondered how long he would be able to stay before needing to return to his homeland of Almyra once more.

“My love.”

Claude’s voice sounded from behind her and Byleth turned yet again, returning to her previous orientation. His hand was outstretched toward her, palm up, his smirk beckoning her to take it.

Byleth didn’t think twice; she took three long strides, closing the distance between herself and Claude and grabbed hold of his hand. He effortlessly helped her up onto his wyvern’s back and she settled on the saddle between Claude’s legs, her own hanging off the side of the beast. When she lifted her gaze back in the direction of where Seteth stood, she was unsurprised to find him looking particularly flabbergasted, as though what she was doing was absolutely and completely incomprehensible.

If Seteth had any intention of trying to stop her, he was too slow in making his move to do so. From beside her, Byleth felt Claude’s body move as he laughed, taking a deep breath so he could project his words loud enough for Seteth to hear. “Sorry, but I’m gonna have to borrow Her Majesty for a while!”

As though on command, Claude’s wyvern’s wings rose and fell and in the next moment, they were airborne. Byleth gripped the part of the saddle that jutted up on her other side, steadying herself. “Don’t worry!” Claude continued, reaching around Byleth to grab hold of his steed’s reins. “I’ll have her back by sundown!”

Below them, Seteth’s mouth hung open. Byleth could only imagine the earful she would be getting that evening…

“...Well,” apparently Claude wasn’t finished taunting his old companion yet. He winked at him, though Byleth was unsure if Seteth would have been able to see it from so far below them. “..._ Tomorrow’s _ sundown!”

Byleth adjusted her worries; she could only imagine the earful she would be getting the _ next _evening.

*

They hadn’t been flying for long but Claude’s wyvern had always proved itself to be swift while on the battlefield. Derdriu must have been far behind them and the exhilaration Byleth had felt from abandoning her post was finally beginning to settle. She and Claude hadn’t spoken much more than a few words since making their great escape, the quiet giving Byleth a moment to reflect on what had just transpired.

_ “Tomorrow’s sundown!” _

She was unable to control the way the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile. Nor was she able to stop the bubbling laughter from rising in her throat; she gripped the clothing of Claude’s shirt, her other hand covering her mouth as she giggled quietly.

_ What a silly man. _

She didn’t miss the feeling of Claude stiffening under her touch. His voice came out shakily, confused. “Are you…?” He didn’t finish his question, instead choosing to lean off to the side, trying to get a look at Byleth’s face. But by the time she had looked up at him and made eye contact, her laughter was long gone. Claude frowned, obviously disappointed. “I don’t think I’ve _ ever _ seen you laugh before.”

Byleth loosened her grip on Claude’s clothing but she left her hand resting against his chest. She was aware of his heartbeat, beating steadily against her palm. “Really?” she asked in a rather flat voice which greatly contrasted the small fit of laughter she had just experienced. She supposed he was right, as Byleth herself was unable to recall the last time she had laughed, if she ever had at all.

“Yes, really!” Claude’s tone was exaggerated, his dismay a bit _ too _ dramatic. “And now you’ve gone and stopped. You can’t do that to me, my love!” Byleth couldn’t help but smile at hearing the term of endearment he referred to her by once again. She was accustomed to it by that point but the sound of the word always made her joyful. “Love.” The mutual feeling they held for one another.

At seeing her reaction, Claude smiled back at her. When he spoke again he sounded more serious, genuine, but still happy. “Come on, laugh one more time.”

It was simple enough of a request, at least maybe for someone who wasn’t Byleth. “I can't laugh if there’s no reason to.” Her answer was curt, honest.

Claude lolled his head to the side, clearly not satisfied with that response. But Byleth figured that he knew pressing her would be futile because he didn’t say anything more on the topic.

Byleth decided to pick one of her own. “I hope Seteth will be okay to take care of things.” She didn’t regret taking Claude’s hand and soaring away with him after the battle. She knew that the comical exchange between him and Seteth would no doubt bring a smile to Byleth’s face for many days to come, but she couldn’t deny feeling slightly guilty about just… abandoning him, leaving him alone to take care of the clean up effort himself.

Claude hummed, Byleth feeling the vibration in his chest on her hand. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. I told Nader I wouldn’t be sticking around and asked him to help out too.”

Byleth blinked looking at Claude’s face. “Nader?” She hadn’t recalled seeing Claude’s retainer, though the battlefield had been relatively chaotic, especially once the large Almyran army had appeared. She had probably just missed him.

“Hey, now!” Claude grinned at her and winked. “Kings and queens can’t do the work _ all _the time! We deserve breaks every once in a while!”

Byleth blinked at him again. “That’s irresponsible.”

Claude didn’t reply that time, his features simply softened into a gentle smile. He directed his gaze ahead of them. Byleth relaxed in her spot in front of him, the side of her head leaning against his chest close to where his arm and shoulder met. She let her hands rest in her lap…

_ Oh. _

Byleth looked at her hands sitting on her thighs, her legs dangerously kicked over the side of the wyvern rather than straddling it like they should have been. She had been sitting incorrectly for quite a while but it only just then dawned on her. She fidgeted in her seat, not from discomfort but in an attempt to reposition herself. “I want to sit properly.”

She both was and wasn’t talking to Claude but she earned herself a response from him regardless. “Hm? I don’t see a problem with how you’re sitting.”

_ Of course you don’t. _Byleth reprimanded him silently, taking extreme note of the way he was properly seated in the saddle. She continued shifting, trying to bend her knees toward her chest without losing her balance but it proved to be rather difficult while atop a wyvern that was flying high in the sky. She huffed quietly. “It’s dangerous. I could fall.”

Claude didn’t seem too concerned but when he spoke, his voice was low, serious. “Even if you fall, I’ll always be there to catch you.”

Byleth paused, redirecting her gaze from her legs to his face. Claude hadn’t looked at her when he said the words, he was still looking straight ahead of them. His face was relaxed but also devoid of any emotion…

No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t that his face lacked emotion but rather he was trying to suppress any sort of feeling. He was thinking, Byleth could tell by his focused stare. He wasn’t looking at the path ahead of them but rather at something only he could see, in his mind, in his memory. She wanted to know what that something was.

Before she could ask, however, Claude broke into his usual charming smile, looking down at her. “Unless you don’t trust me to?” he was teasing now, Byleth knew, and she regretfully accepted that she had missed her chance to pick his brain.

“Of course I trust you.” she stated it as a matter of fact, there was no other way to say it.

The conversation naturally reached its end, as did Byleth’s attempts to reposition herself on the wyvern. Claude made it clear that he had no intention of letting her move, leaving Byleth no choice but to admit defeat. She settled back against him.

The gentle wind that had been blowing against them had begun to cool, she noticed, belatedly taking note of how quickly the darkness of evening had fallen. It wasn’t dark to the point that it was disorienting but Byleth knew that it would get there in due time. A few stars had already started twinkling overheard and soon the moon would join them in its place in the sky.

She suddenly felt very tired. Byleth’s chin dipped toward her chest a touch, her eyes on their way to closing.

“Byleth.”

Claude shifted beside her as he spoke, Byleth feeling him lean forward slightly and a bit off to the side. It wasn’t often that he called her by her name, opting to use “my love” as he had done since reuniting with her earlier. It was still new to her ears and hearing it come from his lips made her stomach feel pleasantly warm.

When she lifted her gaze, she found Claude already staring at her, his face closer than she had expected it to be. His look was intense but not uncomfortably so. Rather, he appeared somewhat nervous, a rare sight to say the least.

He kept his gaze locked on hers for a few moments, as though contemplating something, but then his stare flicked down to her lips and settled there.

_ ...Oh. _

Byleth wouldn’t say she was unfamiliar with that type of thing, not that she had ever engaged in the act herself. When she was a professor at the monastery, many years ago, she would often walk by groups of young adults, students, chatting amongst themselves about such things. She had had little interest in it at the time, having never imagined she would come to understand love beyond the familial variant of it, having never imagined she would even want to partake in such a thing.

But being so close to Claude, feeling his warm body against hers, his face inches away from her own… she felt excited. If her heart was capable of beating like a normal person’s did, like Claude’s had been beating against her palm earlier, she knew that it would be pounding in her chest.

She’d wondered if he had read her mind somehow, seeming to understand that she had given him permission to act. He moved closer, focusing on her lips and Byleth mimicked him, her line of sight resting on his mouth, head tilting slightly to accommodate his position.

Her eyes closed when their lips met. Like the rest of him, his kiss was warm, comforting. The heat spread throughout Byleth’s entire body, a generous portion of it staying in her chest. She felt one of his gloved hands touch her cheek, carefully cradling her face as though she were the most precious and fragile being in all of the world. She savored the sensation, ingraining it into her memory, never wanting to forget it.

They parted at the same time but Claude’s hand remained on her cheek. The smile that broke out onto his face was bashful but so pure and happy. Byleth couldn’t help but let out a small giggle.

Claude’s smile only grew more brilliant. “Well, look at that! It seems I’ve found a way to make you laugh.” he looked awfully proud of himself, his hand on her cheek lowering so he could lightly run his thumb just under her lower lip. Byleth didn’t mind that he was feeling triumphant. He had earned his victory, fair and square.

Claude straightened, returning to his prior position. He dropped his wyvern’s reins from the hand that still held them, wrapping his arms around Byleth instead. She let herself be enveloped by his touch, not worrying about his unsafe flying behavior.

She had missed him. All of his silly mannerisms, all of his teasing. His moments of seriousness and mystery. His voice, his touch. His heartwarming gaze. His meticulous scheming.

Byleth smiled, considering the possibility of him kissing her actually being one of his schemes to earn a laugh out of her. Or perhaps it really had been nothing more than a fortunate outcome to one of his whims.

She supposed it didn’t matter either way.

**Author's Note:**

> the only reason why I wrote this was because I thought of Claude saying the "tomorrow's sundown" thing & couldn't stop laughing at my own dumb imagination. as a result, I glossed over many things & I'm kinda disappointed about that but whatever lol thanks if you made it to the end! this was pure fluff for once & I'm kinda grossed out by it but heck, oh well!


End file.
